A staff of the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, Comrade Onoja Isaac has maintained that the corrupt activities rocking the bureau will continue to ridicule the ongoing anti-corruption fight of the present government as those indicted may continue to go free.
Isaac made the claim while faulting the decision of the Office of the Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF) to reinstate a retired former Acting Secretary of the Bureau, Folashade Kolawaole.
Leading a protest at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja against the attempt to reinstate Kolawole, Isaac observed that when nepotism becomes the order of the day in an organisation like the CCB that should spearhead the fight against corruption, it makes it appear like a joke to the world.
Kolawole, who voluntarily retired on the 12th of April 2017, resumed in August 2017 as the Acting Secretary of CCB.
Frowning at the decision, CCB staff members besieged the Federal Secretariat, wielding placards with messages expressing their dissatisfaction over the alleged attempt by a Permanent Secretary in the SGF office to unilaterally sign a letter reinstating Kolawole.
Speaking during the protest, Onoja said, “If we don’t get it right here that is how we will keep loosing cases in court and we say we are fighting corruption? I can tell you that this is the reason most of the looters are going free in Nigeria because the foundation for fighting corruption is not well laid. This is the reason why corruption cases are thrown out at the the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), and the former Secretary doesn’t care about such things.
“You cannot tell me that the DSS are not aware of the corrupt practices of this woman, they can’t close their eyes to it including all the shady contracts which she is trying to benefit by securing a backyard judgement. Is she not aware that when you leave the service by any means you are no longer guided by the Public Service Rules (PSR) and so if you have any grievances you should approach the Industrial Court and not the SGF, and so by virtue of Section 158 which makes it very clear that once a board takes a decision there is no other authority in the country that can upturn it except a court of competent jurisdiction.
“We learned that the SGF set up a committee which purportedly claimed to have resolved to reinstate Mrs. Folashade after she duly retired voluntarily. No one forced her to retire when she did and the retirement has been accepted and perfected as well, there is therefore no rule in PSR anywhere that allows for such fraudulent reinstatement after duly retiring from service.
“As a union we are therefore praying the President and every other leader to intervene in this matter before it goes out of hand, because without a functional Code of Conduct Bureau even the EFCC or ICPC cannot properly carry out their functions effectively which includes successful prosecution of corruption cases against public office holders.
“Despite the CCB loosing all these corruption cases what was her reaction? Was there any training or capacity building programme for investigators during her time. The SGF which claim that they are supervising, what did they also do about it? As I speak to you for two years now there have not been any annual increment for anybody working in the Bureau here and when we went to her she did nothing about it, so majority of us were happy that she left at that time not only for her to resurface after 5months with a letter from SGF on her reinstatement as CCB Ag. Sec. we the workers say no to such imposition.
“We will recall that just like many other vacant boards and parastatals in the country, the new CCB Board is yet to be screened by the Senate which leaves the Ag. Sec. saddled with its leadership under the supervision of the SGF.
“Majority of the staff of CCB can’t work with her anymore because she was so high-handed in her dealings with staff. I can tell you that she had issued queries to some Directors during her short stay as Ag. Sec. “So if anyone in SGF desperately wants Mrs. Folashade Kolawole back from retirement let them post her elsewhere, because we can’t work with her.
Isaac also called on the Office of the SGF to think of how to reposition the Bureau to fight corruption, as well as hasten the issue of constituting the Bureau’s Board.
Describing the absence of CCB board as a family without a father, Isaac claimed that a lot of things are going wrong in its absence.
Kolawole, who was accused of high handedness, gross abuse of office, refusal to implement the new SOP which is a gazetted document from the Presidency was alleged to have quickly sent in her letter of voluntary retirement all to avoid being suspended for her actions.
It was gathered that upon her return to office, after five months into her retirement, the former Kolawole was booed and denied access to her office by some members of the bureau but she, however, arranged for police to force her way into the office.
A source in the Office of the SGF revealed that the alleged letter reinstating Kolawole was duly signed by Dr. R. P. Ugo, Permanent Secretary, General Services in the Office of the SGF despite confirming that the former has began to receive some part of her severance allowance and benefits.
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